Adjunct Instructor of English, History, Italian & Latin
- Office: Anderson Hall
- Department: Division of Humanities, Division of Languages & Literature
- Phone: 865-981-8237
- Email: ted.higgs@maryvillecollege.edu
- Education: B.A., Austin Peay State University; M.A., English, University of Oklahoma; M.A., Latin, University of Oklahoma; M.A., Human Relations, University of Oklahoma; C.A.G.S., Human Services, Boston University.
Ted Higgs holds Master of Arts degrees in Latin, Human Relations, and English from the University of Oklahoma. He holds a CAGS degree (Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies, a 32 graduate hour, post-MA degree) in Human Services from the College of Education, Boston University. He also holds diplomas, with honors and awards, in Modern Greek and Italian from the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California, and is a graduate of the US Army Command and General Staff College.
He taught English and philosophy for seven years at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he directed the creative writing program. While on active duty he saw service in Greece, Italy, Belgium, and Vietnam. His service in Europe included assignments as the commander of missile units in Greece, staff officer for the NATO headquarters in Verona, Italy, principal speech writer for the NATO military commander in Mons, Belgium, and exchange officer on an Italian Army corps staff in Vittorio Veneto, Italy. After nearly 25 years of military service, he retired in Northern Italy to teach English, humanities, philosophy, and Italian studies for the University of Maryland European Division. Living in the Veneto region, he regularly taught classes on American Studies, in Italian, for the Università degli Anziani, was the president of an Italian art group, and served on the boards of several Italian cultural organizations.
Returning to the States after many years abroad, he has more recently been teaching for the University of Kentucky (2003 to 2013); his courses there included elementary and advanced Latin; classical mythology, art, and literature; and a series of special topics classes in ancient warfare, geography, and culture. He was also the Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Classics Division of the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.
He has been teaching at Maryville College since November 2013. At the college he has worked in the ESL program, taught composition, literature, and history classes, and served as Director of the Military Student Center. He also serves as a faculty adviser for the MC Student Veterans Association. In the fall of 2016 he was invited to develop and teach courses in Latin, which has now been reintroduced into the curriculum. Similarly in the fall of 2018 he introduced elementary Italian into the college curriculum. He has a combined total of over 35 years of teaching at the college level.